McDonald’s added red to its Golden Arches logo in the 1970s, creating the familiar red-and-yellow design.
The Golden Arches began as architectural features on McDonald’s restaurants before becoming a simplified graphic symbol. Yellow gave the arches their distinctive identity, while red supplied a strong contrasting field that made signs highly visible.
The two-tone treatment became one of the most recognizable combinations in global commercial branding. Restaurants, packaging, uniforms, and advertising used the colors in different arrangements while retaining the same visual association.
McDonald’s has also used restrained versions of the arches, including yellow arches on darker backgrounds and stand-alone golden marks. Those variations do not change the central historical pairing of the arches with red.